Druid or Shaman Booster in May 2012 ?

[zenga]

@ everyone saying this or that toon is the fastest booster

... up for a challenge? I say that until you hit the tbc dungeons an ele shaman is the fastest. We could make a video of some of the more important boosting dungeons with a simple chrono. Would be fun to do and it could bring some spice in this end expansion era.

[dfwfire]

@ everyone saying this or that toon is the fastest booster

... up for a challenge? I say that until you hit the tbc dungeons an ele shaman is the fastest. We could make a video of some of the more important boosting dungeons with a simple chrono. Would be fun to do and it could bring some spice in this end expansion era.

This actually sounds like fun. Kinda like a guide to boost them from X to X at X dungeon then move on to Y Dungeon. I have about 2.5 months of Raf left on my 2nd 5 accounts so maybe I can try this.

For the OP-

My personal experience with boosting is limited to Prot Pally, Feral Druid, And Frost/Arcane Mage. I would agree that until TBC dungeons they all- along with Elemental Shaman- are good boosters. I prefer the Feral Druid over the others after TBC. My Prot Pally and Feral Druid are fairly equally geared and tear through TBC dungeons at about the same rate. Once I get into WotLK dungeons however- the Druid far surpasses the Paladin. Considering how easily the Druids mechanics work- rage generation along with ease of macro'ing AoE to one button and single target to one button- he has absolutely no problems through WotLK content. The paladin can take a bit more abuse- however I find myself waiting on spells for longer periods of time with his macros.
While Both the Pally and the Druid have a lot of good defensive and healing abilities, and it may come down to preferred playstyle, the Druid does get my final vote. I have not tried a Frost DK, however I have heard they are quite good as well.

[Mokoi]

recorded all of my boosting today. I'll post a video tomorrow.. sleepy time now!

[Scelesti]

It's a trinket that drops in dragonsoul, can drop from any of the first bosses. Everyone can obtain it, but only spellcasters and disc priest healers should use it. Don't count on it unless you are extremely lucky. I've seen the heroic version drop 3x now, and since my guildies know i want it so badly, they all roll on it and ninja it time after time Either way it's a very nice aoe trinket.

Yes, you should never count on getting that trinket, unless you are in a raiding guild. And even then, your chances of getting it are low. I have not seen it drop on Heroic yet(we're 6/8), and if it did, I'd probably pass since I already have the normal version.

@ everyone saying this or that toon is the fastest booster

... up for a challenge? I say that until you hit the tbc dungeons an ele shaman is the fastest. We could make a video of some of the more important boosting dungeons with a simple chrono. Would be fun to do and it could bring some spice in this end expansion era.

I'm in no way saying a warlock is the best means of boosting, it's just the character I have the most geared and have had the most success with. Go with what works for you. I don't see how ele is the best, but then again I have not seen ele at all this expansion, and am probably missing something that makes it ridiculously easy. I might be interested in FRAPSing an LBRS run to show you how fast I can boost that place(I have some really nice spots to send my slaves to). But like I said, whatever works for you is the best.

A kind of off-topic question: Do you guys move your slaves from spot to spot or do you keep them on follow? I find it more frustrating to have them on follow, but I think if I was more efficient with the way I pull mobs and avoid face pulling mobs with the lowbies that it would be a lot more efficient.

[Mokoi]

As for Why I think a DK is superior to all other boosters (assuming equal gear and availability) is as follows:

1. For boosting, you want AOE damage, and you want to be able to hit from range, to minimize the travel time inside the instance, as well as being easier. Paladins have aoe, divine storm is nice.. but its not ranged. DKs do this 4 times every 8 seconds. Howling Blast will hit every target, and even with crappy gear should one shot every mob up to BC. (assuming you have frost fever talent) other classes can aoe better, but none of them have their aoe instantly and on such a short cooldown as a DK. You can target one mob in a pack of 6, and then you are done. Hit howling blast, and you win.

2. You don't want to rely on aggroing all the mobs and letting them follow you around the instance, to kill them in one spot near your alts. Many mobs in these dungeons have tether mechanics that break if you go to far, and they reset. this is a pain in the butt, especially if you have to run your alts around the instance to get quest items etc later. Also, you have 5 instance runs per hour, so you will be hitting this cap every single hour except for some of the large instances like UBRS/LBRS. Every mob needs to die! /evilgrin

I think.. some instances, you CAN just collect all the mobs, run around as fast as you can, and then aoe them all down in one-shot, but i run at 115% speed on my DK, as fast as any other class and i never stop to kill anything until about UK.

A kind of off-topic question: Do you guys move your slaves from spot to spot or do you keep them on follow? I find it more frustrating to have them on follow, but I think if I was more efficient with the way I pull mobs and avoid face pulling mobs with the lowbies that it would be a lot more efficient.

I think that's a totally on-topic question.

My (not necessarily the right.. or only) answer is this:

10-15: Deadmines - yes, move them to the first boss when you kill him, stay there until second boss is dead etc. Leave them at the mouth of the final cave for all the exp and then collect them for the run back (through the instance, it's faster than going outside again)

15-23: Stockades - Don't move unless you are getting / turning in quests

23-33: SM Cathedral - Yes, I move them to the first door, and then leave them there the whole instance (you can pull the last boss out of the cathedral to get full exp)

33-42: Scholomance - Yes, but only 10 feet in to the area with the quest givers. Then stay there for the second-best boosting area in the game.

42-48: BRD - I usually just follow my main through the instance. Be careful of patrols, they will one shot a fresh no gear no talents lvl 42 lol.

48-57: LBRS / UBRS - Yes, for LBRS, I clear the first room (patrol and the pack at the back) and head to LBRS with my main, alts following. Then I drop them off at the first ledge you see in the main .. area of LBRS (you will see on the video) Clear LBRS, and then I follow my main through UBRS, but staying a boss behind, so they dont pull aggro and die so easily.

57-63: Hellfire Ramparts - nope.. enter.. kill.. leave repeat. then WAIT a long time because instance timers will ramp up fast.

63-65: Sethekk Halls - Yes, follow the main again staying one boss behind, so you don't pull aggro when you are new. (You CAN skip this if you like, but it's actually faster to go here than to slug through another instance lock of Hellfire to get the last couple levels in there.

65-68: Magister's Terrace - Yes, I move my alts to where i killed the first set of mobs, and then leave them there. GREAT EXP!!

68-71: Utgarde Keep - Yes, I have my alts auto-run about 20 seconds after my DK, so they both just basically auto-run through the whole instance. DK stops to kill, but he has unholy aura, so he's faster anyway. This is a good spot to stop boosting.

71-80: Quest.. or Dungeon Finder if you have enough gear and an appropriate group (I never plan that far ahead, and I'm always naked when I get here haha) I find questing from 71-80 a lot more interesting, since you no longer get a lvl or two per run, I find grinding UK and other WotLK instances really REALLY boring. And if you have RAF... it's really easy and you can skip most collection quests.